Four minutes and 37 seconds into the Iowa women’s basketball team’s 98-81 loss to No. 7 Ohio State, the score was tied at 10.
Then, Buckeye all-star sophomore Kelsey Mitchell hit a 3-pointer. And that was that. The Hawkeyes did not lead again, and Ohio State sewed up its first win in Carver-Hawkeye in eight years.
The Buckeyes made 6-of-10 3s in the first quarter, burying Iowa, which didn’t hit a shot from downtown until the second quarter.
Ohio State pressed early in the contest, which took the Hawkeyes a bit out of their game. Junior Ally Disterhoft played well against the press defense, however, and she led the Hawks with 6 points in the first quarter.
“We press to try to turn the other team over,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. “I thought it was really effective.”
The press led Iowa to commit 4 of its 15 turnovers in the first quarter. The game shifted when the Buckeyes went on a 10-0 run and ended the first quarter with a 13-point lead.
Ohio State forward Shayla Cooper added 10 points for the Buckeyes in the first quarter. She was 3-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from behind the arc. Cooper finished the night shooting 8-of-11 from the field with 20 points and 7 rebounds.
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“I thought that the 10-0 run at the end of the first quarter was just a really tough one for us,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said.
Iowa continued to push when the second quarter came around, but it wasn’t enough. Ohio State stretched its lead to 16 in the second quarter. Disterhoft was the only player for the Hawks to score in double figures. The guard tallied 13 points in the second, grabbed 2 rebounds, and had 2 assists.
Stopping Mitchell became nearly impossible in the second quarter. She had 14 points in the quarter, from all over the court, shooting 2-of-4 from the 3-point arc, 6-of-10 overall.
However, Iowa did hold Mitchell to only 20 points.
“You have to come prepared when you come to Iowa,” Mitchell said. “When you play a team like Iowa, you can never get too comfortable. You always have to stay on your p’s and q’s.”
Sophomore Christina Buttenham came off the bench in the first quarter but did not play well. She was 0-of-4 from the field, air-balled a 3, had a turnover, and got her shot blocked when she tried to go in the paint for a quick jump shot. She was then benched and returned later in the third quarter.
Junior Alexa Kastanek also came into the contest in the second and added some spark. She made 2-of-3 attempts from downtown and scored 7 points in nine minutes.
“It’s always nice to contribute in anyway I can,” Kastanek said. “Knocking down the 3s and playing defense was the way I contributed.”
In the second half, the Hawkeyes again fell hard into Ohio State’s press defense, and it forced the Hawkeyes into 9 turnovers. Ohio State scored 10 points in the second half on turnovers.
Five Hawkeyes did score in double figures, but it simply was not enough against the Buckeyes.
